Saturday, April 27, 2013

On Saturday, May 4th, celebrate Kris and Kayla Biagiotti’s (The K Girls), incredible accomplishment of becoming the first mother/daughter team to finish the Boston Marathon. Kris and Kayla were 50 yards from the finish line when the first bomb went off and instead of raising their hands in victory, they were forced to shield themselves from flying shrapnel.

Kris and Kayla Biagiotti

This race was founded nine years ago by Kris and other members of the community to honor the life of Bob Biagiotti, Kris’ late husband and Kayla’s dad. Bob’s belief was that no child should sit on the sidelines. The Franklin 5K, formerly called Run for Bob, has raised $75,000 to benefit children with special needs. It has become a celebration of children of all abilities.

The community at large is invited to The Franklin 5K to give Kris and Kayla the celebration they deserve as they cross the finish line at a race Kris founded years ago to benefit the YMCA. Everyone is encouraged to participate, both young and young at heart! Or just come out for a great day with friends and cheer on The K Girls.

Participants in Saturday’s event will celebrate with Kris and Kayla in their first event following Boston. By supporting this race, participants also help to improve social skills, build self-esteem, increase physical activity and independence, and enhance mutual respect among people of all abilities.

Location for the event is Marsh & McLellan Companies, 431 Washington Street, in Franklin. The event will include kids’ activities, touch-a-truck, refreshments, silent auction, raffle, music, and more. Day of registration begins at 9am.

Register today by visiting www.hockymca.org. Medals will be awarded to the top 3 men’s and women’s finishers from several age categories and all participants will receive a finisher medal.

The event is presented by Iron Mountain. To find out more about the Hockomock Area YMCA’s Reach Out for Youth and Families program, Integration Initiative, or THE FRANKLIN 5K, contact Michael Bordonaro at 508.643.5225 or michaelb@hockymca.org.

On Wednesday evening, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed its budget proposal for FY 2014. Our new brief, "House Budget for FY 2014: Amendments Adopted During Debate," describes the differences between this proposal and the earlier version put together by the House Ways & Means Committee. These include:

A much smaller cut to Youth Empowerment programs, which help young people find jobs and build careers

Additional funding to reverse proposed cuts to Public Health, including programs that support the well-being of children and young adults

Partial restoration of funds for Law & Public safety, and particularly for the courts

Overall, the full House budget is still largely similar to the Ways & Means budget. It provides new funding in some areas--notably Higher Education and Transportation--but also cuts to Early Education & Care programs that help improve the life-prospects of young children.

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts.

Sessions are filling up! Make sure you're registered so you don't miss one minute of the festival, and buy your festival button today! If you order your button online, just pick it up starting Friday, May 3 from our headquarters at 125 Museum Place Mall!

Festival SpotlightInterested in families and relationships of all kinds? Check out these explorative and insightful events!

Primary Connections: Writing Poetry about Family | Friday May 3, 1:15-2:15 | Old Town Hall, Second Floor Richard Hoffman, Charles Coe, Susan DonnellyWriting poetry about one's family can be challenging. How do we address emotionally sensitive issues with both candor and sympathetic understanding? Why should the reader or listener care about the people in the poet's life? How is the connection made between the personal and the universal?

Sentimentality and its Absence in Contemporary Poems of Pregnancy and Motherhood | Saturday, May 4, 12:15-1:15 | PEM Native American Gallery Jennifer Militello, Arielle Greenberg, Lisa Olstein, Rebecca WolffIn this panel, poets who are also mothers will read poems and discuss the relationship of poetry to motherhood, exploring the ways in which poems of pregnancy and motherhood can both emphasize feeling and shy away from traditional approaches, as well as sharing poems that reflect on the experience in ways that welcome sentiment, reshape it, and even thwart it.

Writing Your Unwritten Recipe: Poems of Your Family's Immigration | Friday, May 3, 2:30-3:30 | Old Town Hall, First Floor Rachel Barenblatt, Monica Raymond, Joy Ladin, Merle FeldIn this workshop, participants will read published poems that celebrate both immigrant stories and delicious food memories. This is your opportunity to write poems that celebrate both where our families come from, and the ways in which food continues to tie us to our family origins.

Love what we do? Consider donating today, or even setting up a small recurring payment. You'd be surprised what a difference $10 a month can make!

Hitting an academic wall in college can hurt more than in high school, as not only is it lined with less padding, but expectations that students will know where to turn and what to do after the initial impact are much higher.

Reversing course once again, Massachusetts' welfare agency made available new details Friday about state benefits received by the family of the Boston bombing suspects, saying public interest in the case trumped the privacy rights of Tamerlan and Dzokhar Tsarnaev.

Today's math curriculum is teaching students to expect -- and excel at -- paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. In his talk, Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to stop and think. (Filmed at TEDxNYED.)

The MBTA this week put into service the first three new commuter rail coaches from Hyundai-Rotem USA.

The first trips for the 3 new coaches carried passengers on Train No. 213 from North Station to Haverhill Wednesday morning. The new coaches will continue to operate on the North Side of the commuter rail system in the weeks head. It is expected that an additional 15 new coaches will be in service throughout the system by the fall of 2013.

Cost of amputating a leg? At least $20,000. Cost of an artificial leg? More than $50,000 for the most high-tech models. Cost of an amputee's rehab? Often tens of thousands of dollars more. These are just a fraction of the medical expenses victims of the Boston Marathon bombing will face.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Regent Circle residents made another appearance at the Council meeting to continue to make their case for getting the road repaired, rebuilt and at minimum a date for such actions. They did gain a commitment to having the patch work started in the next 60 days. The patching will address the safety issues. Franklin will be working to combine the water/sewer work listing with the current road conditions listing and have the updated 'master' list ready by the end of the year. From that listing, there will likely be a proposal for a water bond issue to cover the next set of water main repairs. The funding from the last bond is what is providing the work currently scheduled for the next couple of years. A compete rebuilding of the road and neighboring roads is possible 2-3 years out at the earliest if the timelines discussed during the meeting hold true. Worse case, it could be easily beyond 5 years out for a re-buld of the road. Once money is allocated (and that is the key issue) design work would still need to be done before the work is started.

The status of the former municipal building on Emmons St drew some sharp criticism from some councilors as they reviewed an estimate for repairs that clearly had not been presented in any prior capital budget session. They hadn't because Facility Director Mike D'Angelo didn't recommend them. The Council's position is that they make the decisions and D'Angelo should simply be providing the data and information.

An outstanding request for work orders for school building repairs also gather some sharp words when the conversation shifted to the persistent leak at the Jefferson School. Work on the leaks has been done since the building opened and is now the subject of an engineering study and proposal due in May to re-do the spot that is poorly designed and generating the leaks.

DPW Director Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi made a presentation on the work projects the DPW has underway for the next couple of years. A copy of the presentation should be added here later.

A series of zoning bylaws was rescheduled to be heard on May 15th. The Planning Board has them currently under review and have not completed their work with them yet, hence the rescheduling.

Earth Day clean up will be held from Beaver St on Saturday, Apr 27 from 9:00 Am to 1:00 PM

The FY 2014 budget hearings will be at the Town Council on May 15 and May 16.

The collection of posts reported live from the Town Council meeting Wednesday, Apr 24 can be found below.

Franklin Art Center

SOLO SHOWING

Orfeo Fabbri - Solo Opening Reception May 4

Orfeo is an award winning artist living and working on Cape Cod while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design His work has been described as having a "…very strong, saturated color and powerful compositions, sometimes including mixed media. His techniques include extensive use of the palette knife, thus his surfaces have the strength of an impasto surface"

May 4 - June 15, 2013

Orfeo has studied with some of Cape Cod's finest artists. He is a juried artist member of the Cape Cod Art Association and the Provincetown Art Association & Museum. In May (2009) he was awarded First Place in oil/acrylic by the Cape Cod Art Association for his piece, Sunday Afternoon, in the All Cape Cod Artist Juried Exhibit. Orfeo's work is included in private and corporate collections.

The Franklin Downtown Partnership and the Franklin Garden Club currently are seeking volunteers and donations for the 10th annual Beautification Day on May 18. The event is scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to Noon, rain or shine.

The non-profit Partnership and the Garden Club plan to install more than 1,000 flowers and greens on the bridge and islands downtown and in planter boxes in front of some businesses. The group will also plant and mulch the memorial gardens on the Town Common. All residents, especially students in need of community service hours, are asked to donate their time to help decorate downtown Franklin.

Franklin Downtown Partnership

Besides planting help, a crew is also needed to help clean up brush and trash from downtown. Volunteers will meet at 9:00 a.m. on the center island in front of the Rome Restaurant. Any volunteers with pickup trucks are asked to help transport plants from Fairmount Farms on Lincoln Street at 8 a.m.

“We are working with Fairmount Farms again this year to create beautiful red, white and yellow displays,” says Beautification Day Chairperson Eileen Mason. “We are fortunate to have the continuing support of the FHS Hockey teams, and this year the YMCA has also stepped up. It’s our strong community spirit that helps us make a welcoming impression on the public.”

Beautification Day’s heavy lifting is accomplished by volunteers, some of whom work year-round planning, growing, planting, watering and maintaining the decorations. Donations and sponsorship are still needed. Fairway Independent Mortgage and D.G. Ranieri Real Estate are gold sponsors this year.

Additionally, proceeds from a fundraiser at Pour Richard’s Wine and Spirits will help to offset the costs. The entire community is invited to a wine and beer tasting event on May 7 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at Pour Richard’s, 14 Grove Street. Tickets are $10 per person.

Anyone interested in sponsoring or volunteering for Beautification Day should contact Eileen Mason at emason11@verizon.net. Anyone interested in assisting the downtown clean-up committee can e-mail Chris Bond at c.bond@murphybusiness.com or Jim Schultz at jims@fairwaymc.com . Gold and platinum-level sponsors will have their names prominently displayed on a sign in the center island for the 2013 season. Silver sponsors will have their name displayed on a group sign in the center island for the remainder of the year. Details about sponsorship can be found at franklindowntownpartnership.org/.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Flag lowering - performed as instructed by the Governor, only for the facilities not for all the flags
originally through to Sat, then amended to Monday and then further to today

Regent Circle will get addressed in the next 60 days
will be aligning with water, sewer and road plans in the future
would like to do more with the roads but we don't have the money
we have other obligations to consider, I don't have other options other than a dedicated override for roads

L. OLD BUSINESS get the listing of the facility tickets

M. NEW BUSINESS Regent Circle, it will be repaired but not reconstructed

Steve Derderian, I appreciate the presentation, it was thorough, details and you have a lot on your plate
no one dispute that is in horrendous conditions
you are slipping further and further
you clearly need a funding source year in and year out
chip sealed done 25 years ago
if I had a budget, it is getting back to basics, here is a fifty year old road that has never had proper repair
I voted for the high school

Diane Martin - I was told two years ago that the road wasn't on the next ten year plan and to bring it to the Town Council, safety is a concern, we are looking for road reconstruction

Nutting - we start planning things a year or two ahead, in the short term we are going to fill some holes, we are going to use hot top, not cold patch, it will be makeshift until we can rebuild
the dilemma we have is some get fixed with the water line and others not
$55,000 but that doesn't do the water line

Cantoreggi - it has got to the point where it needs to be reconstructed
we are going to take care of the safety sections of the road, it may not look great but it will be safe

Bissanti - I hear what you are saying, I think what you are asking is to be moved up on the list

Pfeffer- we can't just do Regent Circle
it is not worth doing your street without doing the water
we are doing the best we can

Jones - we understand your complaints, I know the condition it is, the underlying issue is money
168 miles of road, I am convinced the plan we have is in good condition, the only way to gain additional money is through an override, there has been only one successful.

Kelly - we are all listening to you, I live on Crescent St. Getting on the Council is not a way to get it done anyway quicker. We are trying to play catch up. Prior to ten years ago, there was nothing, the capital planning now is better than it was. there is no money left. The budget is level funded, if there was anything left I would spend it. There is not a councilor here who doesn't want to fix this but we need the money.

Dellorco - After the last meeting, I drove your road. It is horrible. Brutus you will do a good job here. Come back and tell us how good they did

Brutus - we don't do cold patch anymore, the stuff we use is better

Nutting - we can get a date later this year when we get our water master plan

Vallee - what is happening with the corner of Cottage and Union?
Nutting - calls have been made and no return has been received, we may need to get our Representative involved

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS Dellorco - my condolences to those involved, kudos to the Metro SWAT team they did really well

Powderly - really best of humanity that we saw, every single person responded well, it showed the best of who we can be

Bissanti - commend the men in blue and yellow coats, made me proud to be an American

congratulate Hamilton Technology, grand opening this week, there may even be an expansion

Pfeffer - congrats to the Cultural Council

Vallee - Does D'Angelo have staff?
Nutting - has one person got sick from mold? no
we have less custodians, less employees, a lot more square feet to manage, the complexity of the job is incredible, go find another town and see if there buildings beat ours

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION 1. Resolution 13-24: Authorization for Town Administrator to Execute Mass DOT Land Damage Agreement in Connection with Route 140 Improvements
an easement to the State for the traffic light for the Big Y
motion to approve, passed 8-0